13/07/2011
NEWS STORY
Despite revelling in Fernando Alonso's win at Silverstone, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has urged the Italian team not to get carried away.
Alonso's win was timely, for it came just days before the sixtieth anniversary of the Scuderia's first Formula One World Championship Grand Prix victory, indeed, at the very same circuit.
However, addressing the assembled team members at Fiorano as they celebrated the team's first win of the season, di Montezemolo urged caution.
"We managed to win and that is down to you and I want to thank you all for it," he said. "You have done well and have shown, every single one of you, how to react at a difficult time.
"You did not lose heart and you managed to improve in all areas," he continued. "In Stefano Domenicali you have a boss who has proved to be a leader and the congratulations I gave him immediately after the race on Sunday are for all of you. Now however, we must keep our feet on the ground, which is something we are used to, given that we know what it means to win. We must take another step forward, because we want to win again this year: to succeed in that, you must all try and do your best in your daily work, trying to achieve a personal pole position.
"Winning in England, at the home race for the great majority of our opponents is something special," he continued, "all the more so as it happened on the day of such a significant anniversary.
"I think that even Pat Fry, for whom this is the first win since he took on the role of chassis director, managed to feel the difference there is between winning with another team and doing it with Ferrari," he said of the former McLaren man.
Paying particular attention to the pit crew, he said: "Effort, training and attention to detail: that's how you manage to improve in a task like this: at Silverstone, you were perfect, so keep going forward like this."
Following the president's speech, team boss Stefano Domenicali took the opportunity to give his congratulations and gratitude.
"We have got back on our feet thanks to you," he said, "but there is still a long way to go. It's been quite a while already that we had the wherewithal to win and we managed it at a track that did not look too suited to us beforehand. Let us continue like this: we are a long way off the leaders, but who knows, if things go in a certain way, the air could begin to get more rarified."